A DIFFERENT KIND OF KING MATT 25: 31-46

A few years ago, two schoolgirls on the Israeli side of the border with Jordan were shot dead by a a Jordanian soldier who seems to have just gone berserk. The pain in the village of Beit Shamesh was immense as was the anger at this outrage. However, to the surprise of the entire world, the Jordanian King Hussein left his palace and went to the homes of the slain girls. In each home, he went down on his knees and looked up to the grieving families to say, “I beg you, forgive me, forgive me. Your daughter is like my daughter, your loss is my loss. May God help you to bear your pain.”

I remember that story because the actions of King Hussein were not what is normally expected of a King, let alone a proud Hashemite King. Indeed, our normal picture of Kings is of those who are proud and who often with relish wield authority over life an death. Our own history is full of stories about the self interested use of power by many of our Kings and Queens.

Today, real power rarely lies with Kings but the use of power continues to be a matter that commands our attention.

Our world all too often sees the power of weapons. In addition to the threats of terrorism, we see many countries developing and acquiring more powerful weapons which could conceivably far exceed the effects of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Power lies with he who has the biggest toys and the greatest propensity to use them.

Our world today sees the reality of economic power. Peoples’ livelihoods can be wiped out by decisions taken in offices far away. The economically powerful can make decisions that make or break the lives of so many others.

And furthermore our world today sees the power of marketing and advertising. Day by day we discover needs we never knew we had and the big brands so often claim a loyalty from many especially of our young people as they leave sweatshop workers living on a pittance whilst paying a fortune to that modern curse, celebrities, who are paid great fortunes, to convince us that their brand of trainer or whatever is the only option for those who want to be a part of the in crowd.

Surely, we are at a time when it is sensible to be wary of power and the motives of those who wield it.

And yet, today, we come to Christ the King Sunday. Now ecumenically celebrated, Christ the King Sunday came into being in 1925 at the instigation of Pope Pius X1. He was uneasy at the way society was emerging in the wake of the Great War. Lenin had come to power in Russia and Mussolini was on the march in Italy. Men who used power in an unscrupulous way were all over the place. And , perhaps having seen the Papacy lose the Papal States, he felt that the church and Christ were being sidelined. So this particular day was inaugurated with a vision of encouraging people to look to the greater Kingship of Christ.

But that Kingship is a Kingship like no others. For Christ turns all our notions of Kingship upside down. He was not materially wealthy. He held no position of state. Indeed although he never espoused violence, he was subjected to the violence of the state through a show trial and execution with religious establishment and occupying political power both implicated. He left no writings . And yet!

And yet it is as that famous piece of prose ‘One Life’ puts it;

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he is the centrepiece of progress and I am far within my mark when I say that all the armies that have ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the Kings that ever reigned put together have not affected human life upon this earth as has that one solitary life.

So what is this Kingship about? Like the Jordanian King, he leaves the place of splendour to be at the place of suffering. In that place he allows himself to be vulnerable to the very worst that humanity can offer. And yet through it he shows love to the unworthy, brings hope to the despairing and offers forgiveness to the guilty. For this is the way of the self giving Kingship of Christ.

And this Kingship is a Kingship that challenges us in the exercise of power today. You see King Jesus calls us out of the Me Me society and challenges us with a vision in which justice is at the heart of society with a particular emphasis on those who are seen as the losers. In this there is a continuity with the Old Testament emphasis. We heard this morning from Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a man who had no doubt that authority had been misused in Judah. The unjust rulers were in his eyes responsible for the fact that he and many others were far from home in exile whilst back home Jerusalem lay in rubble. His vision of God is a vision in which God tells him;

‘I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.’

For Jesus, the vision goes further. In the vision of the sheep and the goats, he proclaims that what we do for the vulnerable - hungry, naked, imprisoned- we do for him for he is there in the places of vulnerability. Now some would contend that in this vision with terms such as ’these brothers of mine,’ a phrase that Jesus elsewhere uses for his followers, that Jesus is peaking of what we do for Christians. And yet that goes against the real message of Matthew’s Gospel which time and time again shows Jesus’ concerns and compassions going beyond any definable community. After all is not the calling of the church to be the one organisation which exists as much for those who are not its members as for those who are its members?

Still in our treatment of the vulnerable, is how Jesus sees our loyalty to himself being tested. Mother Theresa of Calcutta once put it well when perhaps reflecting on our Gospel reading she wrote;

‘At the end of our life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by;

“I was hungry and you gave me to eat.
I was naked and you clothed me.
I was homeless and you took me in.”
Hungry not only for bread - but hungry for love
Naked not only for clothing - but naked of human respect and dignity
Homeless not only for a room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection.
This is Christ in distressing surprise.’

And finally, how does King Jesus treat us when we fail? Here’s a story that may help.

A man dies and goes to heaven where he is met by St Peter at the Pearly Gates.

‘Here’s how it works’ says St Peter. ‘You need 100 points to make it into heaven. Tell me the good things you have done and I will give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in.’

‘Well’ said the man. ‘I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart.’

‘Wonderful’ says St Peter. ‘That’s worth 3 points.’

‘3 points’ replies the man looking a little dejected. ‘Well I attended church all my life and to be fair I was a pretty good giver.’

‘Terrific!’ says St Peter. ‘That’s certainly worth a point.’

‘Only one point!’ The man by now looks worried. ‘Well I started a soup kitchen in my city and I did work in a shelter for the homeless.’

‘Fantastic, that’s good for 2 more points’ exclaims St Peter.

‘Only 2 points!’ the man cries. ‘At this rate the only way I’ll get into heaven is by the grace of God.’

‘Bingo! 100 points!’ shouts St Peter. ‘Come on in!’

And friends that’s what the Kingship of Jesus is about. It turns the world right side up. It values those who are the most vulnerable and calls on us who are the subjects of Jesus to do the same. But ultimately, when we miss the mark, thanks to a thing called grace, it gives to us more than we could ever deserve.

What a King! Truly, a different kind of King!


This sermon was preached in Bideford on November 20th 2005 - Christ the King Sunday